Friday, July 07, 2017

Update on Aramean land seizure in Turkey

ASSYRIAN (MODERN SYRIAC) WATCH: Decision to allocate Syriac churches, monasteries to Turkish religious directory cancelled (Hurriyet Daily News).
The governor’s office in the southeastern province of Mardin has cancelled its decision dating back to 2014 to allocate churches and monasteries belonging to Syriac Christians to the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), Doğan News Agency reported on July 5.

In its decision on July 3, the Mardin Governor’s Office’s Liquidation Committee said a legal amendment was necessary “for the problem’s exact solution” and until the legal amendment went into force, “the current situation was intact.”

The Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation’s head Kuryakos Ergün, who was present at the committee’s meeting on July 3, confirmed to Doğan News Agency that it had made the cancellation decision.

However, he also said the case was still unsolved for them until ownership of the properties is transferred to the foundation, and vowed that the foundation’s legal fight would continue until then.

[...]
This sounds like constructive progress. But the problems are not yet fully resolved. It never hurts to mention that the world is watching. We will continue to watch the situation closely.

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